Yellow Submarine
by Flywheel Shyster and Flywheel
Summary: "Sometimes, life doesn't turn out the way you think it would be. I figured that by now, I was gonna be saying goodbye to friends and family, ship out to Harvard to study law. Instead, I'm spending... I don't even know what day it is, with three guys I've known for less than a week, drinking tea and playing cards." "Don't forget the yellow submarine." "Right. The yellow submarine."
1. A Hard Day's Night

Imagine. Imagine a world where people got along. A world without greed, without pollution, without possession. A brotherhood of man; everyone is the other's equal, everyone is of the same right. Imagine no fear of the unknown. Imagine only sky above us, dirt beneath us. Imagine a planet in harmony. Imagine that.

Now that you're all warmed up, imagine something perhaps even greater. Imagine a window. It doesn't have to be a fancy window or a window into another world; quite the opposite. It could be a window in your room, in your kitchen, on the bus you ride in the morning or the airplane you decided to hijack because you're not quite sure what you want out of life.

A window is a rather mundane thing to imagine, isn't it? Mostly everyone has one, they don't come in cool colors, either it lets you see out too little or others in too much and, well, it's just another thing you have to clean around the house.

In conclusion, windows are boring.

But imagine the bigger picture! In a world where children are being enslaved by technology and baseball sales have dropped by the decennium, there is very rarely any need for actually replacing a window. So imagine that; what does a window see? A window not only see the seasons come and go but if lucky can take part in some of the most fantastic moments in a human being's life. One window could speak of an entire lifetime; every time she was stared out of over morning coffee, how the female human used to smile to herself when she heard the male enter the kitchen, the meals that were cooked and enjoyed, the dishes cleaned and the groceries unloaded. Children buttering toast for Mother's or Father's Day. Dad sneaking a little snack in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping. A stern talking to a child who hit another child. Tears. Smiles. Laughs. More tears; some of sadness, some of pride. Then, another child brought by the original children. The sound of running feet filling the house once more, less frequently than before. And one day, she came home alone. A lot of tears. Never ending sadness.

I wanted you to imagine a life through the… Eyes of a window. Because if you can't put yourself in that position, think outside the box like that; turn the fuck around 'cause you're gonna encounter some even weirder shit in this story than a peeping window.

For simplicity sake, let's listen in on an interesting story our window heard through the house one night when the children's children were sleeping over.

* * *

"Grandma, grandma!" She turned her thoughtful gaze from the window toward the door opening just in time to see her two rosy cheeked grandchildren rush through it. "We finished our snowman!"

"You did? That's great!" She smiled whole heartedly at them; childlike innocence is the greatest cure for everything.

"You wanna see it, grandma?" The boy pulled down his scarf to show the elderly woman a toothy grin only interrupted by a small gap in the upper row.

"Maybe later, dear; grandma's feeling a little tired tonight." The two children shared a look; ever since grandpa left, grandma would be tired more often than not. But that suited them just fine because there was one thing grandma loved to do when she was tired.

"Grandma?"

"Yes, Edward?"

"Will you tell us a story from the old days?" The elderly woman felt her heart skip a beat, like it always did when she thought of her past, regardless of the period.

"I would love to, dear. Can I trust you two to make the chocolate?" She raised a suspicious eyebrow and was met with two wide innocent grins.

"Absolutely!"

"We can do it!" Last time they could not however; the entire kitchen had been nothing less than a war zone.

"Alright; I trust you this time!" A finger was waggled in warning before she made her way into the living room; leaving the excited children to their own adventures in the kitchen.

It had started by coincidence; the whole storytelling business. The young ones were over, it wasn't long after the passing, and while they were playing with a couple of toy cars on the floor, she was flipping through album after album of photographs in _his _armchair. She flipped and flipped until she ventured upon a picture. A picture depicting memories forgotten, buried deep in the sand of time on life's beach. Before she could even give a thought about it, her mouth was already open; telling them the most amazing stories from her childhood of pool parties, contests, contraptions, shenanigans and the never ending fun. Slowly and gradually, the stories changed focus from herself to the trio of boys that made it all possible. A trio with three sets of endless' imaginations that would never ever grow up, even the slightest.

Perhaps that's why the stories spoke to her grandchildren; not only because young Edward was their name sake but also because the legend of the trio, no matter how many years passed since then, would be eternally young, forever frozen in the very childhood she found herself thinking back to more and more as of lately. Of course, the children would love that one! Though it might be a bit dark in certain places and… Well, the ending was just pure torture.

'_Now where did I put that photograph?_' There wasn't much photographic evidence of her childhood; who had time to take pictures? Each and every one of them were too busy being young, enjoying it while they could. That's why she clung onto the few she had, quite literally rarities. But there was one, one very special memory that she had always kept framed. One she just couldn't afford to lose. But it wasn't, couldn't be lost. Towards the end, she often found _him _looking at the picture; searching for answers.

"Here comes the chocolate, grandma!" Her fingers traced the wooden frame and she smiled to herself; somehow she knew that someone else out there wanted to hear that very story.

"Oh, you found the whipped cream!" She turned around and gripped the frame harder at the sight of her precious grandchildren already sitting in front of the armchair, a tray with three mugs of steaming hot chocolate on the small side table.

"And the _mashmallows_!" The young girl grinned widely, her pronunciation a bit off thanks to the latest visit of the Tooth Fairy.

"We cleaned up after us too!" They were almost shaking as a result of bursting with excitement.

"I assume you two little elves want a really special story tonight then?" Two heads nodding rapidly in unison. "You're in luck then; I just happen to have the most special of them all in store tonight."

"Yay, grandma!" The young boy blurted out and jumped a little in his seat.

"Sccchhhh!" His younger sister quickly shushed him and he looked down in shame.

"Sorry…"

"It's quite alright, Edward." She slowly sat down in the armchair before placing the frame with the picture down and handing out the mugs to the two children who couldn't tear their eyes off of the frame. "Excitement should always be shown; it's just a question of to what degree."

"What's that, grandma?"

"The same with curiosity, Elizabeth; never be afraid to admit it." They were hanging onto their grandmother's every word, even though they were staring wildly at the frame. "Now, do you two know why you were given the names you have today?"

"Because Mom and Dad were out of ideas?" The old woman chuckled at her grandson's bluntness before continuing.

"Good guess, but no. You see, I told your father this very same story when he was just a child like yourselves today-"The siblings shared an excited look. "- And he swears to this day that it is the greatest tale he has ever heard, read or seen. So much, as a matter of fact, that you, Edward-"Said young boy straightened a little. "-Are named after two of the bravest men there ever was. And you, Elizabeth-"Said young girl followed her brother's motion. "-Are named after the bravest woman there ever was."

"Grandma?"

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"Did this story really happen?" She couldn't help but admire them; they reminded her so much of a special young man from a long, long time ago. Realizing she hadn't answered the question; she picked up the frame and fingered on it.

"Yes and no. You see; I wasn't there for this adventure so nobody, except for the three of them, knows what happened during that ride."

"What did they tell you when they came back?" Edward took a small sip of his cocoa without breaking eye contact with her.

"That's the thing. Edward… Elizabeth… They didn't come back." Their small faces scrunched up in sadness and her heart faltered the slightest. "Their very last adventure was told to me through a series of letters sent to me during a period of five years. Of course one can't know what they saw or experienced for sure during that time but I…" She paused for a moment, took a long look at the picture and sighed. "I believe that every word of it is true. The Eds... Were just that fantastic." The armchair creaked almost soundlessly when she leaned forward and held out the picture frame in front of her grandchildren's curious eyes.

"Grandma, is that you and grandpa?" Elizabeth pointed to a blonde girl with her arm around a cap wearing boy's shoulders.

"Yes indeed. God, we were so young back then." A quick blink and a tear disappeared without notice. "This is the last picture anyone ever took of them. They were gone not ten minutes later."

"Grandma?"

"Yes, Edward?"

"What is that thing?" He pointed to the enormous mechanical apparatus that took up the whole background behind the row of smiling people. A similar smile spread across the elderly woman's face like she had just been waiting for her grandson's question. She stroked the glass, covering the three forever frozen young boys with three very different smiles in the moment of the camera flash.

"Ah... That machine was the most wonderful thing any of us had ever seen. An absolutely marvelous piece of technology."

* * *

"But Eddy, you don't know that!"

"Get real, Monobrow; I don't think Sockhead has the technology to cure world AIDS from in there."As usual, life hadn't changed around the Peach Creek area. The sun was still shining, the bugs were still grotesquely oversized and adult supervision was still a thing unknown of. The bickering between the three boys known as Ed, Edd and Eddy was also very much intact; even if the boys' fashion senses weren't.

"Live by hope, Eddy!" Edward, or Ed for short, Firefly remarked and pushed the glasses he had gotten a year before up his nose a bit. He found himself subconsciously licking his teeth for about the thousandth time that day; two days in and he was still not used to his new braces.

"All I'm saying is; three weeks! Three weeks straight, Lumpy!" Eddy McGee tugged at the collar of the old red army jacket he had found in the attic a few days earlier and pulled the green army cap on his head down to cover his eyes from the hot afternoon sun. "We gotta break in and see if he's alright!"

"Double-D left me instructions and number 42 was to never go into the garage!" Ed was definitely worried; if Eddy set his mind on something, he wouldn't rest until it was either in his mouth or in his pocket. And the notes Double-D had left with him specifically told him to 'keep Eddy out of the workshop'. He was morbidly afraid of the disappointment his friend would experience if he failed him.

"Come on, Ed! He could be lying dead in a pool of his own blood in there because he pulled his socks up too high!" The truth was that Eddy McGee was 50 percent worried, 50 percent curious as to what his friend was up to. It wasn't often he actually _locked _himself in and even less often he wouldn't emerge after a couple of hours. Unnoticed by the two though, another boy joined their side; grinning widely.

"He's right, Ed; I could be badly injured."

"It's our duty as his friends to make sure he's alright!"

"A difficult task but somebody has to do it!"

"Through and through, we've had each others' backs; it shouldn't be any different now!"

"Preach, Eddy, preach!"

"Damnit, Ed; we _have got_ to- Uhm…" The young artist completely lost track of his speech once he noticed the presence of a third person in their conversation. He squinted his eyes as if the sun was setting out mirages. "Double-D?"

"The very same." The young inventor, clad in an orange-reddish dress shirt with a dark blue tie hanging loosely around his neck, smiled at his two gaping friends.

"DOUBLE-D!" The smile quickly disappeared when he was picked up in a brutal, bone crushing hug. "I have been so worried but then I read instruction 27 which told me not to worry so I decided not to worry and then I went about with my day!"

"Did-"Double-D pushed himself back out of the hug and took a deep, panicked breath. "Did you follow every instruction, Ed?"

"I did!"

"Excellent!"

"EXCUSE ME!" The two smiling reunited friends directed their attention to a fuming Eddy McGee. "You lock yourself away for three weeks without a word and then expect it all to be cool?"

"Precisely! I knew you'd understand!" Double-D grabbed Eddy's shoulders, smiled warmly and gave him a quick hug before setting off in his trademark run towards the very same garage he just came from. "Now hurry, I can barely contain myself!"

"I'mma coming, Double-D!" Ed followed suit in his own trademark run, being absolutely horizontal above the waist.

"Wait, what? Hey, come back here!" Eddy had no choice but to follow his two secret keeping friends in _his_ own trademark run.

* * *

He was making the last minute preparations; there were no intentions to stay in Peach Creek any longer than necessary. Ed and Eddy had helped him wheel her down to the same place where the former had made a drop off only days earlier. After that had Double-D sent them both back to the Cul-de-Sac to fetch every single one of the kids for 'something they just couldn't miss'.

With one final strain on his muscles, he heaved the heavy bags Ed had packed and left there as predetermined down into the giant mechanical wonder. Wiping the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief, he pulled back the cover and sat down to wait.

Sure, he would certainly miss Peach Creek and everything his childhood home had to offer… But an old fashioned 'Edventure' in a first class machine that could take them who knows where? If he knew his two friends correctly, this would be one journey they would be more than eager to join him for. Imagine, just the three of them… In a big and unknown world.

_***SSSCCCCHHHHAAAAAAAAA***_

The thought alone was enough to send shivers of excitement down the young inventor's spine but along with the noises his creation was making? It was damn near orgasmic.

"Aight, what are you dorks up… To… Now…?"

"Rolf has been blessed with the lack of Ed-boys, why would the son of… The…"

"Hey, dude; Ed told me to… Come… Here."

"DOUBLE-D! IF YOU DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT JIMMY AND I ARE DOING HERE INSTEAD OF- Wowsers…"

"Jeepers!"

"I don't know either, Plank; you never know with those Ed- Look at the size of that cover!" One by one, the kids of the Rathink Avenue Cul-de-Sac trailed down to the destination Ed and Eddy had coaxed them into walking to and every one of them reacted in amazement to the enormous thing Double-D was sitting on.

"Aight, Double-D; we rounded up the suckers like you wanted us to, what now?" Eddy emerged from the scattered trees that formed the forests of Peach Creek with Ed close behind.

"Should've known this was some stupid scam." Kevin, the everlasting jock, scoffed and crossed his arms causing Eddy to start grinding his teeth.

"Correction, Kevin; this is not a scam at all. And none of you are here to pay for anything, you're all here to temporarily bid farewell to us Eds!" The girls, including Jimmy, gasped in surprise while Jonny and Rolf shared a look of confusion. Kevin on the other hand was not impressed.

"Yeah, you're here to bid farewell- NOT HERE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING?!"

"You see, friends; I have for quite some time now dreamt of places other than Peach Creek. Seeing the world. Experiencing different cultures. Finding the flora and fauna of foreign fatherlands. As I know that Ed-"

"That's me alright." The simple Ed said happily with a wave to his friends.

"- Shares my dream and vision-"He slid down the side of the covered machine and faced his shorter friend. "- And I'm quite sure Eddy can't wait to see what kind of – Ahem- suckers awaits him out there-"

"That's me alright!" Eddy's face lit up like a Christmas tree after the Macy's Thanksgiving parade; a world full of suckers… Just waiting to be scammed.

"- I made a decision for all three of us! For a month, we will travel about where the weather takes us and return safe and sound in time for the school start!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; let's not make any hasty decisions here now, Double-D." Eddy stepped forward and put a hand on Double-D's shoulder. Said boy in turn made a motion to Ed who winked in response.

"Say, did any of you guys catch 'Attack of the 50 Foot Space Toasters last night?"

"Oh, Eddy." Double-D grabbed the hand on his shoulder, his voice lowered so the conversation were for their ears and their ears only. "I do apologize for not telling you about this but… Remember the day we were cloud gazing?"

"Of course, that was an awesome day." It was one of many he considered 'the best of his life'.

"You couldn't stop talking about getting out of here and what you were gonna do after high school and… Well, I figured; if, by some chance, we aren't young forever-"

"Bite your tongue there."

"- I thought that we could at least start a little early on getting out of Peach Creek."

"Yeah... It could be kinda fun; just you, me and Ed."

"Precisely what I was thinking!"

"And, you know, if we like it, we could always stay out there in the world a little bit longer than August…?" Eddy grinned innocently.

"Don't push it, mister."

"Nothing's written in stone! Just know that to 100%, I'm onboard." He smiled and embraced his friend who smiled slyly back.

"Not yet you're not." The shorter Ed's face scrunched up in confusion but the taller one just shook his head while continuing to smile. "Ed!" The tallest of the Eds perked up at the mention of his name. "That's all, thank you."

"No problemo!" He was always more than happy to talk about whatever monster or sci-fi movie he had caught earlier in the week. Judging by the kids' expressions however, they were not as happy.

"Anyway!" Double-D cleared his throat and raised his arms into the air for no apparent reason. "Some of you may have noticed my absence in your everyday life these last three weeks-"

"I was too busy enjoying my dork free time."

"You were gone, Double-D?"

"I don't know, Plank; that might've just been a shrubbery."

"- Some of you may not have. But, as I stand before you today, may you never forget my greatest invention ever; the very thing that will carry the Eds out into the world!" He rushed to the left side of the cover and grabbed it. "Psst, Eddy; a hand?" To say Eddy McGee was excited to see what was under that cover is quite the understatement; his basically frantic running over to the opposite side of the cover was enough evidence of it.

"Count of three?" The two friends' eyes found each other and they both cracked matching grins; adventure was upon them.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

_***PSSSSSCHHHHHHH* **_The very moment the cover was pulled off the giant machine, every person and animal standing, sitting or lying down within a 30 feet radius of it was blinded by a thick fog.

"I can't see!"

"What is this tomfoolery?!"

"Oh, you dorks are in for a world of pain."

"Not to be alarmed, people!" Double-D's voice was heard through the mist. "It's nothing more than a steam buildup from being covered up too long! Not to worry, it will disappear soon!"

"It better be!"

"I guarantee it, Sarah!"

_***ZZZZZZCCCCHHHOOOOOOO***_

"We're off to a great start with this thing." He heard Eddy's voice somewhere to the left of him and he fumbled around until he could find his friend and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Oh, you have no idea, Eddy." Gradually, shapes and full sight were returning for the slightly-panicked-yet-keeping-calm kids and the one badger who was watching from a couple of tree roots. First the shapes of the people closest to them but then further away until they all saw the enormous shape of the machine.

_***TSSSSCHHHHH***_

"Whoa…" Eddy McGee took a step back and couldn't close his mouth. He couldn't even blink. The sight, the sounds it made... It was glorious.

_***PRRRRRING!***_

"Double-D… What…" Piece by piece, the machine came into full view for all of them as eight mouths and eight pair of eyes opened wider and wider in pure bewilderment.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Behold my single greatest invention." Double-D grinned wider than ever before and spun around to face them with his arms stretched out wide. "I present to you: The Yellow Submarine!"


	2. Good Day Sunshine

_It was only a few weeks before he passed. It was Wednesday; grocery day. She would never forget that afternoon; how she stepped off the bus like usual, walked the familiar last bit home and... Found him up and running._

"_What are you doing, dude?! You could fall!" He slowly turned around, an expression of surprise and shock on his face; the very face their two grandchildren usually made when they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. _

"_Hang on, let me just..." She was frozen in the doorway; out of both fear for his health but also in amazement. The only times he ever left the armchair as of late was to use the loo or to get another photo album to slowly flick through. And now... He was up on a chair, not the sturdiest they had but it suited its purpose, carving something into the archway over their hallway corridor using tools she hadn't seen since their young years._

"_Kev, what're you-"_

"_Scchh. It's done." His eyes swept across the text and a faint smile appeared. She was quickly there by his side to take a sturdy hold of his hand; like she had done so many times during their childhood hijinks. Together, they managed to get him down from the chair he had dragged there from the dining room._

"_How... How did you-" They took a step backwards and it was first then she read and understood the meaning of the carved message._

"_Started small at each end a couple of weeks ago when I went to the crapper. When I couldn't reach any higher, I waited until you either went shopping or when you were on the phone with one of the girls to get on one of these chairs." Tears were now making their way down her wrinkled cheeks and he was there to hold her tight, like always._

"_Oh, Kevin... You never... I mean, you never told me-"_

"_I… I really did like them. But a boy's foolish pride was too strong for me to be able to tell them before it was all over."_

"_Kev... I love you."_

"_Love you too, Nazz." Years and tears had passed between them, the sandals of time stepping on their toes every now and then; reminding them of the very short time they had left. But never did their love stop blossoming. Neither one told the other but if it hadn't been for the ones spoken of in the inscription, their love never would have seen the light of day._

_Somewhere out there, that archway still stands; even though the house has been demolished long since. For the archway tells the beginning of the Eds' final and eternal adventure._

**In the Town Where I Was Born Lived Three Men Who Sailed to Sea...**

* * *

**_64 years earlier_**

* * *

"Double-D... I- I- How?" The monstrous machine that towered up over the shocked teens let out a sound similar to that of a balloon filled with bright green paint being dragged across a frying pan, as if trying to answer Nazz's question.

"You made this thing... In three weeks?" Eddy had imagined some sort of half assed sail boat that the three would traverse the world in but boy was he wrong.

"Oh heavens no!"

"Then-"

"The actual building process barely took a week; painting the whole thing was the true time consumer!" Double-D grinned triumphantly as he took in his friends' expressions.

"But... Why?" Nazz wanted to but she couldn't take her eyes off the submarine. What she really wanted was to know why Double-D and his fellow Eds decided to leave Peach Creek at just _this _moment when it would've made more sense to leave after, oh say, some big scam gone wrong.

"I painted it yellow because it's not worn by any of us Eds! Ed represents the color green with his jacket, I assume I represent blue for this-" He held up the end of his tie and flapped it around for everyone to see. "- And of course, Eddy represents red with his newfound military band jacket."

"This is _a band jacket_?!" Said Ed looked down on his attire in newfound disgust.

"I thought you knew, Eddy; that many gold buttons would hardly be suitable for stealthy military operations in the jungle..." Double-D decided to ignore his grumbling friend and pulled out a camera from his back pocket. "I thought we would take one last commemorative picture before our departure; to mark the start of our journey into the unknown!"

"Oh, brother..." Kevin groaned when the young inventor scooped his friends together in a neat row in front of the submarine; Jimmy and Sarah a little frightened to stand so closed to the puttering technological wonder.

"Why didn't anyone tell me this is _a band jacket_?!" Eddy tugged at his collar; finding out that it was indeed a... _band jacket_ along with the merciless sun was really making him rethink his fashionable outfit.

"You didn't ask us, _dork._"

I do apologize; you haven't been told this story the same way Edward and Elizabeth has. I mean, the _younger _Edward and Elizabeth. And while you technically are but not in the same order and- Let me see if I can tell you this in a way we all understand.

See, their grandmother's told them some of the stories you already know and some of the stories that you've never even heard of. One that you're both familiar with, and the last one told to the young ones, is their second biggest adventure, compared to this one; the one where their biggest scam yet went horribly wrong and ended with- Well, let's just say it was all good from Mondo-A-Go-Go to the Creek.

However, somewhere deep down, Kevin and Eddy were born to be each other's nemesis. Not long after their big picture adventure, called that due to everyone finally seeing the big picture about Eddy, they managed to get into a fight over who would take Nazz to that year's prom. Neither noticed of course when Double-D ended up escorting her but that was beside the point. The point was that their friendship had been cauterized but was now slowly starting to putrefy and rot from the inside out. Very soon, the two of them were back to their old way which worked wonderfully for everyone involved.

I think that was the point I was trying to make.

"Like you know anything about fashion, green shirt for five years!" Rolf was quickly in position to hold his biker friend back; they were all accustomed to their meaningless fights ending with the jock jumping the never-learning scammer.

"Ahem. If you two are finished." All nine heads turned to Double-D who had propped up the camera on a tree branch and was now fiddling with the timer.

"Would you hurry up, Sockhead?! It's hotter than hell today!" Eddy was most definitely regretting ever finding the infernal... _Band jacket_; the sweat was starting to pool up in his socks.

"Quite right, Eddy; one must not dilly dally around!" The Ed with two Ds quickly ran back to his row of friends and placed himself in the reserved spot between Ed and Nazz. "All together now!"

"All together now what?" Jonny turned his head in confusion where he was sitting in front of Kevin.

"All together now; say 'all together now'!"

"That's stupid." Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes; the first because 'cheese' could never be beaten as a cliché camera motivator and the second because Jimmy was still fixing his hair.

"EVERYBODY JUST SHUT UP AND SMILE!" Eddy McGee's pre-pubescent voice had always had enough force to shatter even the most hardened of ear drums. When the 14-year old opened his mouth to scream that very instruction however, not one syllable came out the same pitch as the last one.

***click***

The camera went off only a second before the amused grins of nine kids erupted in heartwarming laughter.

* * *

"Take it easy, Double-D; don't let Skipper walk all over you."

"The whole line of Rolf's ancestors will bless you with a fantastic voyage, Ed boy."

"Cool submarine, Double-D!"

"Come back in one piece! Ed's optional."

"Be safe now, fellow safety inspector!"

"I'll miss you guys." Each one of the kids said their respective goodbyes to the Eds; among the oddities was Sarah hugging Ed, Eddy actually engaging Kevin in an honest handshake and Rolf giving all three Eds two kisses on each cheek and one on the forehead. Well, coming to Rolf, that one was probably normal.

"Gentlemen, shall we?" Double-D looked at his two companions who couldn't do anything but nod. In response, he walked up to the side of the submarine and shoved his elbow into a panel. Metal bars started to protrude and entwine across the side of the submarine until the inventor could scurry up the newly emerged ladder. "Dear friends; hail and farewell!" He waved and smiled fondly to his friends on the ground before starting the climb down the hatch of the monstrous machine.

"Konnichiwa, bitches; adventure time!" Eddy glanced back quickly before running up the metal ladder and literally jumping down into the submarine with a "Geronimo!"

"Bye, bye Miss American Pie!" Ed turned around to face his friends and sister one last time. Grinning goofily, he started to walk backwards until he was wandering up the side of the submarine, next to the ladder. The last thing any of the Peach Creek kids ever saw of any of the Eds was Ed tripping backwards over the edge of the hatch and disappearing into the depths of the yellow traveling machine with his usual goofy laughter echoing out.

The kids stood in silence for a moment; taking in the prospect of a life without the Eds.

"I'm bored." Jonny was the first one to speak. Out of all his neighbours, the Eds definitely caused him the most trouble. But the Eds were also the ones he trusted the most; whatever, wherever, whenever. Not to mention they were more hilarious than a barrel full of monkeys in season.

"Hey, how do we even know this stupid thing works?" Sarah was the second one to speak and even though she would never, ever admit it, it wasn't out of doubt; it was out of hope. Spending more than a day without her broth- _stupid _brother always ended with her deliberately seeking him out for she missed him something so terribly. These feelings were of course hidden deep, deep, deep, deep, _deep _down.

"I think it-" Jimmy's thought about how it actually would work because if it didn't, Double-D had the knowledge, Ed the strength and Eddy the stubbornness to fix it was cut off when the submarine's engine sprung to life with a ferocious roar. Sorta something like this:

**_*VVVVVRRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR*_**

So ferocious, the kids all leapt backwards in fear.

"What do you know, it works." Kevin, who would never really speak fondly of the Eds until the ripe age of 78, couldn't help but think as he saw the rear propellers start spinning that... He was gonna miss them. Even Eddy. At the end of the day, they were fun to have around. In mild dosages.

"Ancestors of Rolf, never let the noodle headed Ed boys stray off the path they truly need to tread..." Rolf bent his head in a mumbled prayer, an unknown language following the English. The shepherd easily considered Ed his closest friend in Peach Creek, closely followed by Kevin and Double-D. The two had bonded once Ed had been permanently employed to work on the farm surrounding Rolf's house, knowing that his animals would disappear mysteriously less often if the cause was allowed to play with the animals as much as he wanted. Bottom line, he wished for nothing more than the three 'pastafarians' to get home safely.

"…" Nazz took all the emotions she had ever had for any of the three rascals and summed it up in a sentence of four words. But alas, no one but herself heard it; the engine roared majestically as the submarine started to inch down the creek.

"Hail and farewell; nautical noodle heads!" The shepherd son straightened his back out of the prayer and raised his hand against his forehead in a salute, putting on a brave-ish face; how could the others keep it together if he, the 'head honcho' like Eddy so often called him, showed signs of sadness? Besides, they were gonna be back before you could say 'pickled radish hanging from the ceiling in the month of the limping horse'; Rolf was sure of it.

"So long, dorks!"

"Kevin!"

"What? They know it's endearing or whatever!"

"Brush your teeth, Ed!"

"Be safe!"

"Sayonara, guys!"

"Bye!"

"Don't forget to write!"

"Shoot something and bring back!"

"Sarah!"

"I meant a plant! Or... Whatever..."

"Have fun!"

"Do you see them?"

"No... There they go..."

"The Eds are gone."

"The Eds are gone."

"Just like that..."

"..."

"Yeah."

"What the hell are we gonna do now?"

"Wanna watch TV at my place?"

"Sure, Kev."

"I ain't got anything better to do."

"Plank says we should get some jawbreakers in honor for the Eds!"

"Good idea, Jonny!"

"Eddy'd be pissed if he knew he was missing free jawbreakers!"

* * *

Eddy felt a shiver travel up his spine as he lay motionless under Ed's heavy frame; barely had he had time to take in the colorful inside of the hatch before the overgrown lump had come crashing down into him.

"Somewhere, my name and jawbreakers were mentioned in the same sentence..." Another shiver. "They're free too..." His eyes snapped open and grew wide at the realization of what he was saying. "FREE JAWBREAKERS?!"

"Free jawbreakers?! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Ed quickly got off his shorter friend; not standing up or rolling over but instead jumping straight up and hovering for a bit before he actually _flew_ down the steel covered walls of the submarine corridor.

"Hey, wait for me!" Eddy was at his feet before one could say 'Er war wirklich schnell auf die Füße' three times on one's head and quickly followed his friend past a corner. "Hey, Double-D, you gotta turn this thing around; there are jawbreakers back in Peach Creek!"

"Impossible, Eddy!" Believe it or not but every thought about jawbreakers left Eddy's mind the moment the bridge of the submarine came into his view. There were buttons in every color of the rainbow, levers in every size, switches with numbers that went higher than Ed could count, numerous radar screens that were blipping and blinking, a microwave with a tray of something purple glowing in it, several nozzles and funnels that seemed to lead through the floor and ceiling, not to mention the sensational mess of cables, tubes and pipes that was traversing in every direction possible. Aside from the three huge swiveling armchairs that were positioned in a triangle around the deck, there wasn't much room to be standing around.

"Cool ship, Double-D!" Ed quickly figured this out and jumped face first into the seat with his name in big, green letters on it. "It's way cooler than the one from 'Morbo Takes Earth: DOOOOOOM at Eleven'!"

"Thank you, Ed!" Double-D didn't need to look back to see that his friend loved the submarine already. He quickly leaned over the enormous board full of buttons to pull a green lever and flick six switches marked with the first seven prime numbers.

"What's this?" The big oaf inspected the little station in front of his chair with great curiosity. Apart from a screen and what looked like two mail slots, his little table was empty.

"Oh, there's a panel on the armchair's right side where you- No, _the right side_, Ed. Yes, that one! There's a panel of buttons you can push there!" Without looking, Ed pushed, unknown to him because he wasn't looking, an orange and a pink button. A faint mechanical whirring was heard and a panel was drawn back under the screen and a standardized keyboard appeared at the same time a comic book flew out of the upper slot into Ed's lap.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Ed rapidly pinched himself on the arms and twice in the face.

"Ed, what are you doing?" Double-D threw a quick glance over his right shoulder.

"I must've died and gone to heaven!" The lovable guy was looking like a kid in a candy store on Christmas with a raised allowance.

"Hey, Sockhead; you sure this bucket of bolts is safe and junk?" Eddy, who had been surprisingly quiet for quite some submarine description, was eyeing the interior suspiciously. He remembered more than one occasion (that damn 'prototype') where Double-D's machine was bound to fail from the start. Sure, he and Ed were the almost sole reasons for their failures but sometimes, even Sockhead failed.

"Why, of course, Eddy! While we haven't tried the diving mechanism yet, it is at least a seaworthy vessel!" Double-D smiled reassuringly to his friend before slamming his fist into a big green button with blue stripes. An area Eddy hadn't noticed, mostly because it was the _only _area that wasn't crammed full with buttons, suddenly slid apart and he quickly threw an arm up to shield his face. "Sunshine, Eddy! Beautiful sunshine!"

"Good day sunshine!" Eddy stumbled forth through the rays of light, fumbling in front of him.

"I believe these would be beneficial." More gentle this time, Double-D almost _caressed _an almost pitch black button incidentally not far from the peanut valve regulator. Three panels in the ceiling slid back and three pairs of safety goggles, which Jimmy would call a _fashion nightmare_, attached to a cable dropped down. Or in Eddy's case; dropped down and hit him in the head.

"What the hell is this?" Before Eddy had even stopped rubbing his sore spot and begun sliding on the goggles, Double-D's were already on and Ed's were already on the wrong way up.

"Put them on!"

"I'll put them on your god damn..." Eddy McGee's mumble disappeared into nothingness however once he could see through the goggles. He had never seen something so breathtaking. They were far out of the Peach Creek area now, having gone the opposite direction they took during the whole 'Big Picture' ordeal and still travelling by the direction of the Creek. But what you and I would see that day, had we been standing with the Eds in submarine in that very moment (although I imagine that it would get cramped rather quick), would not even begin to do justice with what the three best friends were seeing through the goggles. To them, the sun was shining bright red, not a single cloud could be found anywhere across the canvas that was the marmalade sky. The trees on the riverbank, a faint tangerine to match the very fruits they carried.

"Wicked!" Ed couldn't believe his eyes. That anything other than gravy could be this beautiful, he had never known up until that moment.

"Isn't it fantastic, Eddy?" Double-D smiled in satisfaction; he knew that this was more than enough to convince Eddy of the level of work he had put into the wondrous machine.

"Yeah... But what the hell is up with the water?" None of them had really paid attention to the water since it was still quite simply blue. But when pointed out, they all saw it. What appeared to be...

"An arrow?" Double-D was right; in the middle of the body of blue water, there was a stream of green water forming an arrow.

"Yeah, that's it..." Eddy had already lost interest in the water, having found the enormous towering flowers of yellow and green that emerged from both water and land a lot more captivating.

"Like a direction! Onwards!" The tallest Ed had never felt so complete in his entire life; he felt secure, he felt wholesome, he felt home. Most of all, he knew that whatever these goggles were, they showed the truth.

"Ed, NO!" But too late. Ed, in his little bubble of safety, had slammed his entire open palm onto the control panel, not knowing which button made the submarine follow green arrows in the water (it was the candy painted one, left to the spotted one for an emergency chicken pox quarantine) A lot of things followed in rapid succession.

*The bright orange button Ed's thumb had pressed made a glass of orange juice pop up through the armrest of Double-D's chair.

*The powder blue one his index finger barely graced opened up the entire ceiling over their head, effectively pulling the goggles of their heads.

*The shock pink one that Ed missed with his pinkie didn't do much because even when pressed, it had to be pressed along with sixteen other buttons and three levers in accordance to a weaved carpet Double-D's grandmother knitted when his grandfather was stationed in France during World War II. Only then (if 'then' was the first Wednesday after a full moon) would the submarine's self-destruct mechanism be activated.

*The button that looked a surprising lot like a jawbreaker, the one directly under Ed's palm, activated a sly little system which catapulted jawbreakers at you with the equivalent force with which you pressed the button. In this case, really, really hard. Also in this case, Eddy managed to stand in the projectile's trajectory path.

*The button that no one meant to press but was pressed anyway when Eddy McGee's forehead made contact with it, since the back of his head had made contact with the Unidentified Flying Orb, was one that Double-D, exactly two weeks earlier, had been debating with himself about its usefulness, seeing how the sort of thing that was happening two weeks later was just bound to happen. But he had just shrugged, installed the mechanism that followed the pressing of the button, wiped his hand and had a turkey sandwich (which he also found a bit dry since he had been out of mustard)

As a result of Double-D's craving for a sandwich that day, thousands and thousands of jelly babies was suddenly pouring into the submarine control room.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, DOUBLE-D?!" Eddy pushed himself off the control panel, sporting quite the button shape on his forehead and an even more impressing jawbreaker indentation in the back, only to slip and fall backwards into an already giant pile of gelatinous candy.

"IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE PART OF AN EVEN BIGGER SECURITY- Oh dear." It was firstly then the young inventor saw the glass of orange juice that rested peacefully on the armrest. "Gentlemen, I suggest we high tail out of here."

"WHAT?!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Double-D threw himself over the back of his chair, diving into the ever growing sea of jelly babies. He threw an eye back at Ed, who seemed quite amused with the turn of events, and swiftly kicked his friend's legs out from underneath him. "SORRY, ED!" Then, suddenly, it all stopped. Half full of the British candy, the bridge grew quiet. Too quiet.

"Hey, it stopped!" Eddy's muffled voice was heard and a foot of his popped out from a particularly big pile, the scammer not knowing up from down when his entire world had been covered in soft, baby shaped candy.

"THE DOOR, EDDY! QUICKLY!" Double-D grabbed a hold of Ed's leg and swam through the sugar coated sea towards the door.

"What's the ruckus about, Doubl-" Eddy didn't get much further before an ominous ***CLICK* **cut through the silence and started a second wave.

"GO, GO, GO!" This time however, it wasn't little soft, British babies. It was hard knock, American beans. And they weren't pouring anymore; they were downright shooting out of the walls like machine gun fire, bouncing off of everything and everyone they hit.

"WHAT KIND OF A SECURITY SYSTEM IS THIS?!" Eddy, who had briefly found his right side up again, threw himself against the door when jelly beans in every color of the rainbow practically pulverized half of his brain cells in an all out assault. The door slid open and wave after wave of gelatinous candy, no matter the origin, poured out, followed by three frazzled boys.

"At least it's effective!" Double-D brought his foot around and kicked a panel, sliding the door close. The three boys lay there, trying to catch their breaths after their swim. On the other side of the door, they could still hear the hard candy projectiles hit everything that was too inanimate to get the hell out of the way.

"WAIT!" Before they knew it, Eddy was already on his feet and slamming his hand into the very panel Double-D had just kicked. Ed and Double-D saw his friend throw his arms up to shield his face before he threw himself head first in the still growing sea of candy.

"EDDY'S GONE MAD, DOUBLE-D!" Ed rolled to the side to avoid an enormous wave that broke out of the room. Double-D wasn't as lucky though.

"GOT IT! ED, DOOR!" Since following instructions was what Ed was best at, he did what Double-D had done earlier and kicked the panel just as Eddy McGee emerged from the almost full room and barrel rolled into the candy pile that now was Double-D.

"Was there a reason to open that infernal door again?!" The young inventor shook his head and most of the candy scattered from it. The face on it was not a pleased one.

"Well, yeah; I had to get the jawbreaker!"

* * *

"How's the control room doing?"

"Ehm... 82%."

"Good, I suspect it'll be at least another half hour." The three heroes were- Actually, two of the heroes were scurrying around the submarine's kitchen, located in the far back, while the third hero had thrown his feet up on the dinner table, checking the dinner table screen every now and then for the progress of the cleaning system currently in use in the control room.

"Hey, Double-D! You wouldn't happen to have those cool goggles in here, would you?" After the jelly excitement had died down, Double-D had fiddled with the panel outside the control room to activate the cleaning system while he had sent Ed and Eddy straight to the kitchen where they were to start with dinner. When Eddy had seen the larger than life food supply the submarine was equipped with, he was quickly relieved of his services. There was enough sweets and candy in the food supply to turn Usian Bolt diabetic and there was no way Double-D was gonna let Eddy anywhere near it.

"I fear not, Eddy; they are only for use on the bridge." Double-D sighed softly; he had intended for some sort of mishap to happen on the submarine's maiden voyage but he hadn't taken babies and beans into account. He also knew Eddy was quite bored now, the kitchen and dining area wasn't intended for much else than cooking and eating but after what had happened on the bridge, even though it had technically been Ed's fault, he wasn't about to let the two of them roam about on the ship unsupervised.

"Why would-"

"Hear me; they _only _work on the bridge! It's in combination with the... Uhm..."

"Wind shield?"

"Yes, I assume we'll call it that. In combination with the wind shield, the goggles works wonders! What we saw there is merely but a fraction of what they can do!" Double-D faced the table with three plates and three glasses.

"Yeah, what the hell did we see? I mean, Lumpy obviously saw a green arrow in the water." Though Eddy had been the first one to notice the arrow, Ed was noticeably the one who reacted to it.

"Then we laughed in the sunshine!" Said oaf gently placed a giant pot of spaghetti in the middle of the table.

"To tell you the truth, I haven't really tested the full effect of the goggles. So until further notice, we are not to wear them for overly long periods of time. Agreed?"

"Sure."

"Mr. Yum Yum Yum!" Just as Ed hadn't been paying attention to the conversation they were having, Eddy and Double-D hadn't paid attention to the fact that Ed had placed a more than generous amount of spaghetti on all of their plates.

"Thank you, Ed." Double-D took his seat next to the chef hat wearing Ed.

"So what the hell is this?" Eddy's eyebrow raised itself automatically in skepticism at the plate in front of him.

"Clams!" The short Ed rolled his eyes at his friend's enthusiastic grin.

"Oy..." He found it surprisingly good. In fact, they all did. Not a single spaghetti was left when they were done; when you're a growing teenager who engages in extreme sports such as jelly baby swimming, you need all the food you can get.

"A fine meal indeed!" Ed and Eddy both groaned in satisfaction as they undid their belts, Double-D opting on unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the navy blue T-shirt underneath instead.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Lumpy!" Picking around his mouth with a toothpick, Eddy threw a quick glance at the screen. "Hey, Sockhead; the bridge's clean."

"Eh, it can wait." The young inventor felt that the trivial things could wait for the moment; he was digesting, what felt like, a five pound pastafarian baby.

"Hey, don't you have to steer this thing?" Eddy often found himself forgetting that they were on a submarine; a giant, moving piece of metal that Double-D was in charge of.

"Autopilot." He sat up straight and let out a weak burp, blushing. "Pardon."

"You wanna pardon for that? This is a 'pardon' burp!" Eddy slammed his fist against chest and let out a burp very similar to the sound of an elephant being strangled.

"We are the champions!" Then Ed burped. And they ran. Oh, how they ran. As fast as one can run with a stomach full of delicious spaghetti a lá clam, Double-D and Eddy made way to the control room with their primary piece of clothing pulled up over their noses.

"WE GOTTA VENTILATE THE WHOLE SUB BEFORE WE DIE!"

"INDUBITABLY!" They both threw themselves through the bridge door, not at all surprised or thankful for the fact that all of the candy had been disposed of, and into their respective chairs. "EDDY, I NEED YOUR HELP!"

"HOW?!"

"WHEN I SAY PENNY LANE, PRESS LIME GREEN, SNOT GREEN, 42, RED, BLUE, 74, PINK, 17, 56, THEN SLIDE THE THIRD METER FROM THE RIGHT DOWN TO 5%! WHEN THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN, HIT THE BINGO BUTTON WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH!"

"WHAT?!"

"**PENNY LANE!**"

Eddy McGee would much later in his life claim that just like Alice, he liked to believe six impossible things before breakfast. The easiest way to list six impossible things was of course to list six impossible things that had happened to him in his life. And as he always started the list with 'Double-D could build a fucking yellow submarine', number two was automatically 'I managed to press whatever things Sockhead screamed out in panic in the exactly right order when we had to vent the submarine'. Curiously, number five, 'Ed could push the button that wasn't actually a button but something completely different' took longer to happen in comparison to the others but was also the most impossible thing to happen.

As you may have understood by now, Eddy McGee had a moment of 'Heroic Blue Screen of Death' in which he didn't know what he was doing, saying or thinking. To put simply, he blacked out.

"Thank heavens, we did it!" The sound of his best friend's voice and the mechanical whirring of the submarine's ventilation system brought Eddy's attention to the fact that his hand was in pain. He slowly lifted it, almost peeling it, off the enormous bingo button.

"Double-D...?"

"Yes, Eddy?"

"Where the hell did this thing come from?" Double-D spun his chair around to see that Eddy was referring to the massive panel that had appeared out of nowhere in front of the panicked teen's armchair.

"It's your panel! I hope that over time you'll learn it by heart!" Eddy stared in disbelief on the panel of colorful buttons with various numbers, letters and no-nonsense symbols on them.

"What does it do?"

"Oh, a lot of things!" Double-D grinned. "Especially in combination with this!" He made a sweeping motion against his own monstrous mother of all control panels. "From here, we can control the entire submarine! That reminds me; we forgot the dishes! Eddy, could you press the second turquoise button from the left?" Eddy's finger hovered over _a _turquoise button. "No, no, _under _it!"

"Tell me-" Eddy rolled his eyes and pressed the turquoise button under the second turquoise button from the left. "Does Ed have a panel?"

"Ehrrr... He has his own little button." Double-D threw a quick glance at the door where Ed hadn't appeared yet, leaned over and pulled the 42nd smallest lever. "Ed controls the dive button."

"The dive..." Eddy thought for a moment. "You'd let Ed handle the dive button?!"

"Well, yes! It's a fairly big responsibility and I thought that he would be happy to have it!"

"What if he hits it when something's open? Like the sunroof thing he opened earlier!"

"Not to worry, Eddy!" Double-D heaved himself out of his chair and motioned for Eddy to join him. "You see this-" The young inventor took a firm hold of one of Ed's armrests and pulled hard. "- Is what you need!" Eddy peeked around the back of the chair to see a hidden compartment in the armrest. In it was a fairly sized rubber mallet with a handle made of silver.

"Is that real-?"

"Yes! This silver handled hammer is the only thing in the world that can activate the dive button!" Unbeknownst to the two of them, Ed had finished watching the dishes being automatically washed and was now standing behind the two of them. "And that only in combination with-" The young inventor pressed a small red button in the armrest compartment and through Ed's station, next to the blue and green dive button, appeared a marble bust. "This!"

"Who the hell is that geezer?" Eddy inspected the bust before swallowing down a snicker.

"It's the current pope, Eddy!"

"That's quite right, Ed! Now, the only way to activate the submarine's diving mechanism is to lightly tap the bust's forehead with the mallet-" Double-D grabbed said mallet between his thumb and index finger and held it up between them. "- Five times before hitting the button. **Hard.** _Twice._"

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard." Double-D's enthusiastic grin faded a little while Eddy rolled his eyes.

"It's based on the old notion that-"

"Can I try that?"

"Sure thing, Ed. See, Eddy! Ed doesn't think it's stupid!"

"Ed? I thought Ed was in the kitchen?"

"That's where we left him at least!" Double-D and Eddy exchanged very puzzled looks before heading out the door, not hearing the faint **_*plink*_**behind them as they left.

"Hey, Sockhead; can I see the hammer?" Eddy couldn't understand why there had to be so much trouble just to dive. It'd be simpler if you just had one button and told Ed it was for the broccoli valve. He'd never even look at it again.

"Don't be silly, I gave it to you!" Double-D stopped only to check that the main hatch was closed and secured.

"No, you didn't!" They both had the feeling that there was something that had been seriously overlooked, but they didn't quite know what.

"Yes, I did! Come now, Eddy; I couldn't have given it to..." A very empty and, thanks to a turquoise button, very clean kitchen met the two friends. They stared at the table for three seconds before reaching the same conclusion. "**ED!**"

"**TO THE BRIDGE!**" Even faster than the last time, the two sprinted through the submarine corridor just in time to hear a fifth and final, faint **_*plink*_**from the very place they had just left.

"ED, NO!"

"I hereby name you Maxwell Edison!" Eddy McGee and Eddward Hammer would never forget the first time the yellow submarine took a dive. The way everything seemed to slow down the very nanosecond they entered the bridge to see Ed stand there with the silver handled hammer held high and majestically. **_*BANG*_ **Without thinking, the two started to run, as fast as they could in slow motion, the short distance between the door and Ed's little station where a bust of the pope seemed to smile triumphantly. Had it been doing that earlier?

**_*BANG*_**

Eddy McGee could feel the fabric of Ed's jacket under his fingers when the submarine violently wrenched downwards. The whole bridge was filled with a purple glow as the microwave jet started and a blaring alarm was heard all throughout the yellow wonder.

"NO PANIC, GENTLEMEN!" Double-D quickly threw himself into his chair before pressing a series of especially colorful buttons and pulling several long levers.

"DOUBLE-D, WHAT DO WE-" Eddy didn't get much further before the submarine wrenched violently again, this time spinning out of control.

"EDDY, THE-" None of the Eds had any time to think before their whole world was turned upside-down and they were knocked out cold against the ceiling. All that was heard was the sound of the blaring alarm, warning the crew about impending danger.

* * *

_"Double-D!"_

_'Someone is calling you.' Eyes open. On his back. A majestic sky of orange greeted him, welcoming him. Welcoming him where?_

_"Yes?" His response time was severely reduced. How come? He tried to lift his arms but he found that he couldn't move them. He couldn't actually move anything at all. What was even more curious was that he didn't have to move them; he was already sitting up. His arm cut through the surface of the green water that he sailed down in a quaint little boat; it was like touching time itself._

_There! On the riverbank, underneath the towering cellophane flowers! The girl who called him!_

_"Double-D!" She started to jump up and down, waving her arms like a madwoman._

_"Yes?" It took him even longer to respond this time. And it wasn't what he wanted to say. He wanted to ask him where she got a hold of the goggles she was wearing; the submarine's goggles. The submarine! Where was it?! Where were Ed and Eddy?!_

_"Use the kaleidoscope eyes!" The boat was barely moving yet the girl had to run as fast as she could to keep up with him._

_"What?" It took him almost an entire minute to respond this time and only a fragment of the full question came out._

_"The eyes!" She stopped running and he felt that the boat stopped moving as well, the water making its way around the boat. The trees, those magnificent tangerine trees, started to squirm, along with those towering flowers. The girl took one step towards the river and she was already next to the boat; he could have reached out and touched her. But he couldn't move anymore. He couldn't talk. He couldn't take his eyes off of her._

_"W-Who-" It was barely more than a breath, it was all he could manage; even breathing was starting to become difficult._

_"You'll see." The corners of her mouth took an upturn. She smiled. And suddenly, he couldn't breathe. But everything was all right. She was there. The girl with skin sparkling like diamonds in the night sky. She touched his cheek, for the briefest of moments, before reaching up and sliding off the goggles._

* * *

"Double-D!" Even through his closed eyelids, he could see, feel the sunshine.

"He's coming back, Eddy!" He could especially smell Ed who was a bit too close for comfort.

"What-" His voice was hoarse and he suddenly found a glass against his lips.

"Water." He threw his eyes open to meet Eddy's.

"Thank you." The hoarseness died down along with the gulp of water. "What happened?"

"Lumpy here thought it'd be fun to take a little dive." Eddy pushed himself off the floor where he'd been standing on one knee, next to Double-D's chair.

"I'm sorry, Double-D; sometimes I can't help it!" Ed was quickly there to give Double-D his best guilt ridden face which the latter never could stand.

"It's quite- Quite alright, Ed; just warn us the next time you plan to do that." The young inventor grabbed the hand of his taller friend and was pulled out the chair and into his arms instead.

"I will, I will, I will!" He felt like a rag doll, being thrashed around in Ed's remorseful arms.

"So where are we?"

"Dunno, we've been trying to get life into you since we came to ourselves." Eddy was already on his way out the door. "Last one out makes dinner!" Safe to say, there was a lot of scuffing about around the bottom of the hatch and had Eddy actually known just _how _to get the hatch open, he would've been first out.

"Ah, fresh air!" Instead, it was Double-D who was let out of the submarine first and he who took the first breath of fresh air.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" The young inventor quickly found himself being thrown out of the hatch and onto a soft patch of grass. "Ah, smell that air!"

"Don't mind if I do!" He also quickly found himself joined in the grass by the young scammer who was thrown out by Ed, now destined to make dinner. "Mmm, relish!"

"So where are we?" Eddy scrambled to his feet and scanned the area. A grassy field, couple of trees along an old country road. Nothing special. Quite boring as a matter of fact.

"I haven't got the faintest clue." Before Ed was even off the submarine and Eddy could move out of the way for 200 pounds of lump, Double-D was already making his way towards the road where he spotted something. "Gentlemen, a clue!"

"Coming!" Ed popped up from the hole his impact had made and followed his friend.

"Yeah, coming..." Heavy groans of pain were heard from Ed's bruised backside.

"Eddy!" The lovable doofus took a firm hold of his friend's left foot, where it along with the rest was stuck in Ed's back, and pulled him out, holding him at arm's length as he ran.

"Ed, please put Eddy down." Double-D had already started to examine the clue with an enormous magnifying glass; a colorful piece of paper nailed to a tree right next to the road. "Hmm."

"What does it- Uuuuh... - Say?" Eddy, whom Ed dropped mid-sentence, slowly stood up and cracked his back with a sickening noise.

"If I put it like this; gentlemen, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…" Double-D put the giant clue examiner away and thoughtfully rubbed his chin.

"Read to Ed what is on the paper!" Ed grinned goofily; he could easily read what the poster said but he had always been better at processing audible information. If you could believe such a thing.

"What the-" Eddy had taken a step forward to, himself, read what the poster said. "'Roll up - and that's an invitation-'"

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Ed hadn't been able to contain himself and read the poster instead of waiting for Eddy to. It wasn't the first time he had seen one of these; he could remember how his aunt's town would be covered with posters whenever it was _that_ time of year.

"I say we look for it; it could be quite entertaining!" The sock headed Ed turned to his two companions and grinned wholeheartedly. One definitely agreed while the other one was staring dumbfounded at the poster.

"Follow me, Double-D!" Ed took off so fast; the dust cloud left before he did.

"Wait, Ed! I still have to lock the submarine!" Torn between his friend taking off like a bullet down an unknown country road and his magnum opus- "Drats! Ed, wait!" - The young inventor hurried off to quickly lock the submarine before Ed got too far away. Leaving their friend, Eddy McGee, at the tree where he was still staring at the poster, trying to comprehend its meaning.

"What the hell is the 'Magical Mystery Tour'?!"


End file.
